<html> <head> <style></style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> Right On!  Make it fun. Don't just learn the processes, understand the concepts first.<div> </div><div>Caryl > From: subbukk@gmail.com > To: iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org > Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2010 15:39:19 +0530 > CC: sthomas1@gosargon.com > Subject: Re: [IAEP] Request for Feedback and Ideas on teaching Algebra > > On Saturday 03 April 2010 11:36:17 am Steve Thomas wrote: > > If you have any ideas for problems I can use and/or suggested lesson > > plans/books/curricullum please let me know. > Having helped my daughter deal with algebra last year, I can share my first- > hand experiences of the 'confusion' that kids face with the subject. It starts > with the name - 'algebra' - sounds like a magical incantation. Most books on > algebra begin with notations :-(. > > Let me digress a bit here. I have often watched kids struggle with divisions > dealing with zeroes: > _______ > 3) 6024 > > If I ask the same kid the following questions (no pen and paper, just head > math): > a) How would you split 6000 Rupees equally amongst three friends? > b) How would you split 24 Rupees amongst the same friends? > c) How much will each friend get if you distribute both 6000 and 24 Rupees > amongst the same friends? > > Kids who struggle with the former have no trouble answering the latter Qs. > Once they play this game a few times, they have no trouble solving division > sums on paper. The rules of the game are understood intuitively. What they see > on paper is a picture of what they carry in their head. Notation is no longer > a barrier - 6024, 6000+24, 6000+20+4 are all the same thing in the head. > > Back to your question. The origins of algebra lies in the games that kids used > to play in India with seeds (the subject continues to be known as Seed > Arithmetic in India). A bag containing different types of seeds constitutes the > alphabet and arithmetic gives us the rules for composition. Kids get to make > up different riddles using the alphabet and rules. Algebra is just "Arithmetic > for Fun". > > If a pile with 5 red beans and 10 yellow beans cost 20 pies and another pile > with 20 more yellow beans cost 40 pies, how much does each bean cost? > > Advanced riddles make use of bricks, tiles, blocks, or rope lengths instead of > seeds but the rules remain the same - simple arithmetic. See Julia Nishijima's > exercise in page 13 of http://www.vpri.org/pdf/rn2007006a_olpc.pdf > > After a few such riddles are solved in the head, the 'reduce and balance' > algorithm is intuitively grasped by kids. Now the notation can be introduced > without confusion: > > 5r+10y = 20, 5r+10y+20y=40 > > Introducing notation before thinking leads to all kinds of confusion. > > Subbu > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep </div> </body> </html>